Dissensus Over Liberal Democracy, Autocratization and Counter-autocratization in Europe

The current stage of European integration has reached a point where liberal democracy is not only a politicised but also a polarising issue. While the contestation of liberal democracy and the expression of forms of opposition have always existed, what is new is that this phenomenon is no longer confined to the margins of the political spectrum: it has moved to the core. On the one hand, in Europe and beyond, populist radical right parties rise against the core pillars of liberal democracy, fuelling discontent, polarisation and paving the ways to autocratisation. On the other hand, there is also a crisis of conviction at the centre and a mainstreaming of the critique towards liberal democracy, with a more diverse group of political, social, and even legal actors claiming that democracy needs to be reinvented. The previously broad consensus over the values on which the EU is founded has eroded and become a matter of debate. Not only the EU but also the liberal international order is increasingly contested by a wide range of state and non-state actors in various regions of the world. This panel brings together a series of theoretical reflections and empirical papers about the transformations of democracy in general and dissensus over liberal democracy in particular, with a focus on reversing the autocratic shift and exploring pathways to re-establish democratic resilience. The questions addressed in this panel are: How to define dissensus over liberal democracy? Who or what are the drivers of dissensus? What are the effects of dissensus over liberal democracy in international relations? What is the external influence on dissensus over liberal democracy in Europe?